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Association response to Home Secretary’s pay award announcement



PSA National Secretary Dan Murphy has commented on the announcement of a 2.5% pay increase for police officers in Home Office announcement:

“It is extremely positive to see the highest pay award for police officers in six years – a sign that the Government is beginning to place the value on these crucial roles that is clearly deserved.
 
 “It is also pleasing that the Home Secretary has finally taken note of the independent review process in place to inform decision making around police pay.  The Police Remuneration Review Body was designed to consider affordability to the public purse, alongside the position of all relevant stakeholders when making its recommendations, and we have repeatedly called for its recommendations to be valued and accepted.  Today’s pay rise is a reflection of their findings and we hope that this process will now continue to have real value.
 
 “Today’s pay award is above the rate of inflation, which will help officers who have seen a cumulative drop in their pay over recent years.  It still falls short of the pay award jointly recommended by the Association and the Police Federation, and going forward, we hope that the pay gap created by austerity will continue to close.”

Full details on today’s announcement can be viewed here.

Background

For the 2019/20 pay award, if the PRRB were persuaded by the employer to award a 3 year deal the staff associations requested an across the board pay uplift for the next three years of 5% each year. Should a three-year settlement not be considered possible, a one-year deal of 6.2 per cent was recommended. Both options were requested to attempt to remedy the pay gap created by the government’s austerity policies.

The employer (NPCC) requested the following options:

  • A three-year pay deal, with 4% being awarded upfront for year 1, with no increase in year 2, and then an increase in year 3 of 2% (with a number of caveats).

  • If no three-year deal is possible, a pay rise of between 2 and 2.5%

The independent review board recommended 2.5%

The Government awarded 2.5%.